Probably you've already checked these things, but you might look in town poor-rolls and in the bounty books often found in Town Clerk's offices. Additionally, you might look for city Board of Claims records and allotment rolls, which often recorded to whom a soldier was sending an allotment, relationship and why he may have ceased paying it - in one Albany County roll, it simply says "wife ran off". There is a certain amount of social information buried in this stuff. Other sources, if you have the material available to you, are police or sheriff's arrest records and/or jail registers. Records of lower level justice courts or county-level criminal courts, Overseers of the Poor or Boards of Public Charity may be helpful.

>>> Linda Crannell <[log in to unmask]> 06/02 8:31 AM >>>
Can anyone direct me to sources which may help me better understand the economic impact (on families) of service in the Civil War? I am researching the history of a county Poor House.  I have little knowledge about how soldier were (or were not) paid for their military service, how families were economically effected by such service, how soldiers who were killed or (especially) handicapped by their service may have been assisted financially, or even how the process worked by which those whose service might have posed a severe economic threat to the welfare of their families might have avoided service. I guess my major problem involves the fact that there has been such a vast amount written about the history of the Civil War that trying to find sources that dealt with this specific economic issue is like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack! Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Linda